NORFOLK, Va. – Three Old Dominion men’s tennis players earned Conference USA postseason accolades on Tuesday morning, as voted on by league head coaches and announced by C-USA officials. Aziz Kijametovic and Francois Musitelli were named to the First Team for singles, as well as doubles; while Jannik Giesse was placed on the Second Team for singles.
“Very well deserved honors for these three guys,” said ODU head coach Dominik Mueller. “They all had great individual seasons and pushed us in the top of the lineup. I’m especially proud of Francois and Jannik raising their level higher in the line up from the previous year.”
Kijametovic (Zivinice, Bosnia & Herzegovina) is currently nationally ranked No. 95 by the ITA for singles. He has compiled a 22-10 season singles record, went 13-6 in dual matches all at the No. 1 spot, with four wins coming against currently ranked opponents. In the Fall, Kijametovic won the Atlantic Region singles title and qualified for the ITA Fall Nationals in singles and doubles. He won singles matches at all the major college tennis events in the fall: Oracle Masters, All-Americans and ITA Fall Nationals. Kijametovic was the Conference USA Athlete of the Week once this spring. During the C-USA tournament, he went 2-0 at the No. 1 singles position, winning both his matches in straight sets. Last year, Kijametovic was named the C-USA Player of the Year and was named to the First Team for singles and doubles.
Musitelli (Dijon, France) compiled an 20-12 overall record, 13-7 in dual matches at position No. 2 and went 3-1 vs. Conference USA opponents. He reached the quarterfinals of the Atlantic Regionals in the fall and has two wins over currently nationally ranked players. He was voted Conference USA Athlete of the Month in the fall and received one Athlete of the Week honor in the spring. Last year, Musitelli was named to the First Team for doubles and Second Team for singles.
Giesse (Ketsch, Germany) has compiled an 20-13 overall record, 12-7 in dual matches at position No. 3 and went 3-1 against Conference USA opponents. He advanced the semifinals of the Atlantic Regionals in the fall. He has non-conference dual match wins over LSU, BYU, ETSU, UPenn and Drake. Last year, Giesse and Vincent Schneider were named the Most Outstanding Doubles Team of the Conference USA Tournament.
Kijametovic and Musitelli are currently ranked No. 26 by the ITA for doubles and earned the Conference USA automatic bid to the 2019 NCAA Doubles Tournament. The duo have an overall 23-8 record for the season and went 12-3 in dual matches in the No. 1 slot. They have wins over six currently ranked doubles teams. Kijametovic and Musitelli qualified for the ITA Fall Nationals and advanced to the semifinals. This tandem also earned First Team accolades a season ago.
2019 C-USA Men’s Tennis All-Conference Award Winners
Superlative Awards
Player of the Year – Sumit Sarkar, Rice
Freshman of the Year – Stijn Slump, Middle Tennessee
Newcomer of the Year – Mehdi Laalej, Florida Atlantic
Co-Outstanding Singles Player of the Championship – Stijn Slump, Middle Tennessee
Co-Outstanding Singles Player of the Championship – Kirac Bekisoglu, Florida Atlantic
Outstanding Doubles Team of the Championship – Pavel Motl/Gonzalo Morell, Middle Tennessee
Coach of the Year – Jimmy Borendame, Middle Tennessee
All-Conference Teams
First Team Singles
Luca Keist, Charlotte
Jason Legall, Florida Atlantic
Gonzalo Morell, Middle Tennessee
Stijn Slump, Middle Tennessee
Aziz Kijametovic, Old Dominion
Francois Musitelli, Old Dominion
Sumit Sarkar, Rice
Second Team Singles
Kirac Bekisoglu, Florida Atlantic
Mehdi Laalej, Florida Atlantic
Pavel Motl, Middle Tennessee
Jannik Giesse, Old Dominion
Jacob Eskeland, Rice
Eric Rutledge, Rice
Michal Lusovsky, UAB
Javier Rodriguez, UTSA
First Team Doubles
Luca Keist/Constandinos Christoforou, Charlotte
Jason Legall/Ignacio Garcia, Florida Atlantic
Aziz Kijametovic/Francois Musitelli, Old Dominion
Sumit Sarkar/Eric Rutledge, Rice
Sumit Sarkar/Conrad Russell, Rice
Second Team Doubles
Mehdi Laalej/Gabriel Sidney, Florida Atlantic
Chris Edge/Tom Moonen, Middle Tennessee
Pavel Motl/Gonzalo Morell, Middle Tennessee
Michal Lusovsky/Roman Postolka, UAB